Alarmed by spike in heroin deaths, prosecutors use rare law

In past two years, more than 80 dead in Will County due to "heroin epidemic"

March 18, 2013|By Dennis Sullivan, Special to the Tribune

Nicholas J. DePratt, 26, of the 200 block of South Cooper Road in New Lenox, was booked into the Will County Adult Detention Facility March 12 on a warrant charging him in connection with the Nov. 25, 2012, death of Brandon A. Robinson, 27, in New Lenox. The Will County coroner's office ruled Robinson's death was the result of cold exposure, combined with the effects of cocaine and heroin. (Will County Adult Detention Facility, Handout)

A "heroin epidemic" in the region has caused or contributed to the deaths of more than 80 people in Will County in the past two years, a county official said after a New Lenox man was charged last week with drug-induced homicide.

"The purity of heroin today puts anyone who uses it at grave risk," said Charles Pelkie, spokesman for the Will County state's attorney's office. Pelkie cited statistics from the Will County coroner's office listing heroin as the sole, or contributing, cause of death in 30 deaths in 2011 and 53 deaths in 2012.

The charge of drug-induced homicide has been in effect since 1989 and provides prosecutors with an alternative charge to first-degree murder, which requires proof that the death was intentional, and involuntary manslaughter, which requires proof that the defendant administered the drug.

Drug-induced homicide simply makes a person who gives a controlled substance to another person responsible if the other person dies as a result of taking that substance, officials said.

Pelkie said the Will County state's attorney's office has used the charge sparingly during the past decade because there were only "a handful of heroin ODs." That has changed as the death toll has mounted, he said.

"More deaths are occurring, and with these deaths come more investigations," Pelkie said. "Our narcotics prosecutors work closely with the police departments" and move the cases forward "when they're ready for charges."

Recently, New Lenox police booked Nicholas J. DePratt, 26, of the 200 block of South Cooper Road in New Lenox into the Will County Adult Detention Facility March 12 on a warrant charging him in connection with the Nov. 25, 2012, death of Brandon A. Robinson, 27, of the 700 block of Stonegate Road in New Lenox.

The Will County coroner's office ruled Robinson's death was the result of cold exposure, combined with the effects of cocaine and heroin.

Will County court records show DePratt and Robinson were each undergoing drug treatment at the time of Robinson's death. Court records also show DePratt had been specifically ordered to avoid contact with Robinson as part of a two-year suspended sentence on a cocaine-possession conviction out of Joliet and a three-year suspended sentence on a burglary conviction out of New Lenox.

Also charged with drug-induced homicide in Will County are:

• Emerson D. Harris, 24, of the 400 block of Mallview Lane in Bolingbrook — charged in connection with the Sept. 19 death of Chad Conley, 28, in Bolingbrook. He is scheduled to appear at a March 25 preliminary hearing.

• Maximillian Kalemba, 21, of the 12200 block of Lakeview Trail in Homer Glen — charged in connection with the Oct. 27 death of Randall Witte, 23, in Homer Glen. He is scheduled to appear at a March 26 preliminary hearing

• Kristina L. Keating, 22, of the 2000 block of Whitmore Drive in Romeoville — charged in connection with the Oct. 28, 2011, death of Emilio R. Medina, 20, in unincorporated Plainfield. Keating is currently incarcerated in Logan Correctional Center on a three-year sentence for possession of narcotics.

Drug-induced homicide is a Class X felony, carrying a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison.

The first Will County resident — and then believed to be the first Illinois resident — to be convicted of drug-induced homicide was Romeoville resident Edward Ray Faircloth. Then 33, Faircloth was found guilty in 1990 by a Will County jury in connection with the fatal cocaine-overdose of his 17-year-old girlfriend in 1989. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with the requirement that he serve 75 percent of his sentence.